Drivers commonly encounter obstacles—such as potholes, rocks, fallen branches, and other debris—in the roadway when driving their vehicles. Such obstacles cause the vehicle body to move with respect to the wheels of the vehicle and thereby create a change in the distance between the vehicle chassis and the ground, commonly referred to as the ride height. Vehicles include ride height sensing system to detect this change in ride height and adjust the vehicle suspension in response to the received data.
Ride height sensing systems measure the distance between a specified point on the chassis, suspension or body of a vehicle and the ground. As the vehicle is loaded and unloaded, ride height sensing systems detect the change in ride height of the vehicle and provide input to vehicle suspension systems to change the way the suspension reacts to changing road conditions or load. By utilizing a vehicle's suspension system, the vehicle may provide a smoother ride on a rough road, a lower ride for better aerodynamics at high speed, or a raised ride for increased off-road ground clearance.
Existing ride height sensing systems include physical linkage systems that are subject to impact damage and require moving parts and levers, and thus prevent an accurate read. Other existing non-linkage ride height systems include systems that utilize ultrasonic lasers. One drawback with these systems is that they require a line of sight between a reflector and transmitter and the transmission medium must be constant to maintain accuracy. Such systems are not accurate in an uncontrolled environment.
A third type of existing ride height sensing systems is a magnetic based system for ride height sensing. These systems are beneficial because they are immune to dirt and water interference. However, existing magnetic ride height sensing systems are susceptible to interfering ambient sources and for certain applications, provide a very slow response time.
Accordingly, there is a continuing need for new and improved systems for ride height sensing that is not susceptible to impact damage, immune to line of sight interference and medium changes and can provide fast and accurate measurements.